Enhanced Removal of Brine From Porous Structures by Supercritical CO2.

ABSTRACT

Supercritical CO2 (sCO2) removes water from brine held in pumice stone at levels well above the solubility of water in sCO2. The higher water removal results from a combination of passive emulsification of water in sCO2 and viscous fingering of sCO2 through the saturated pumice. This leads to higher levels of salt deposition than that expected from solubility considerations alone. These deposits could impact the injectivity of sCO2 as well as its movement in the subsurface. The finding that the water concentration in sCO2 is not necessarily capped at the solubility limit should influence the parametrization of injection models.